With the 2026 Met Gala just over a week away, fans are beginning to share their predictions online about which celebs will be walking the red carpet — and most importantly, what drama will go down at “fashion’s biggest night out”.
Will Kendall Jenner and Jacob Elordi hard-launch their rumoured romance? Will Taylor Swift make her first appearance at the event since 2016? And will the cast of The Devil Wears Prada 2 bring their publicity tour onto the iconic steps?
Very few details about the star-studded guest list are revealed before the first Monday of May; however, there are a handful of celebs who have either been banned, refused to attend, or simply haven’t been invited back.
Think the idea of a “ban” sounds like BS? Well, Anna Wintour, the former editor-in-chief of Vogue who also presides over the Met Gala, once revealed what it takes to cop you a lifetime ban from fashion’s night of nights.
Speaking to CBS Mornings, she and Met Gala mastermind Andrew Bolton said that smoking or touching the artwork at the ceremony will cause a celeb’s name to be scrubbed from future guest lists. She also revealed what celebs can do to be noticed by her and receive a coveted invite.
Watch the shady chat below:
In light of this intel, let’s suss the stars who likely didn’t receive an invite to the 2026 Met Gala or have flat-out refused to attend.
Billy Porter
Pose actor Billy Porter was included on many best-dressed lists when he arrived at the 2019 Met Gala in an Egyptian-inspired look, carried in on a black velvet bed by six shirtless men. But he revealed this week that he hasn’t received an invite since.
“I haven’t been invited back since 2019. That’s the only time I’ve ever gone, and the only time I’ve ever been invited,” he said in an interview with Bevalations, adding that Ryan Murphy had invited him to the camp-themed event.
He went on to say that that he felt particularly snubbed when he didn’t get invited to last year’s Met Gala, which was themed Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, but he insisted he’s “good”.
“I don’t go to places where I’m not welcome,” he shared. “I’ve earned the invitation and it’s okay that I don’t have it because there’s a level that I’ve reached that doesn’t require validation from the outside. I’m going to sit and live in that because it helps keep me sane, too.”
At the end of the day, it’s not too much of a surprise that Porter wasn’t invited back after he criticised Harry Styles’ Vogue cover in 2021 and called Anna Wintour a “b***h”. Eek.
Zohran Mamdani
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced this week that he and his wife Rama Duwaji would be skipping the 2026 Met Gala, breaking a long-standing mayoral tradition.
Mamdani, who is a socialist, confirmed his absence in an interview with Hell Gate and said it was to keep his focus on “affordability and making the most expensive city in the United States affordable”.
Considering the 2025 Met Gala is funded by figures like Jeff Bezos and Mamdani’s political platform focuses on working-class issues, it makes sense he would want to skip the premier event for the fashion elite.
Tim Gunn
Fashion designer Tim Gunn was once a regular fixture at the Met Gala, but after divulging some wild s**t he once witnessed, he has officially been blacklisted. Appearing on E!’s Fashion Police, Gunn revealed what got him permanently blocked from the event.
“It is a crazy story, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a very matter-of-fact story,” he said.
“I was asked what is the most unforgettable thing I’ve ever seen in fashion and I said, ‘It’s easy. It was watching Anna Wintour being carried down five flights of stairs by two bodyguards — two big hulking men — from a fashion show’. All hell broke loose. It was insane. We’ve had an open war ever since.”
He added that he’s been “forever disinvited” from the event.
God, I wish he’d gotten footage of that!
Donald Trump
While being interviewed by James Corden, Anna Wintour was asked which celeb she’d never invite back to the event and she said old mate Donald Trump.
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No specific reason was given, but I mean, does she need one?
Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian
Anna Wintour famously has a tricky relationship with the Kardashians — sometimes she froths them, sometimes she visibly can’t stand them.
A few years back, it was rumoured that sisters Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian had been banned from the event, seemingly not by Anna, but by Kim. Although I’m sure Anna wasn’t exactly rushing to shoot an invite through to them…
It was the year that Kim attended with her then-hubby Kanye West, along with mama Kris Jenner, and sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner. But Kourtney and Khloé were nowhere to be seen!
“Kim lives for the event and she would never want her Kardashian sisters there because that would take the attention away from her,” someone close to the family’s now-defunct show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, told Radar Online.
“Everyone in the family knows that it is Kim’s night. She literally talks about it all year long.”
Kylie Jenner and Khloé Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala. (Credit: Getty)
In 2022, Kourt and Khlo finally copped a long-awaited invite to the event alongside their sisters and we were all thrilled for them, but apparently, Anna decided to reinstate the ban of certain members of the fam the following year.
Ahead of the 2023 Met Gala, a source told Page Six that Wintour “is cracking down on the guest list at the annual fashion fete — and that no Kardashians will make the cut.”
Although a Kardashian source denied this, the fire was fuelled when the 2023 Met Gala took place, and only Kim, Kylie and Kendall were present.
So perhaps the ban rumours were true?
Eugenio Casnighi
Italian model Eugenio Casnighi went viral in 2023 for overshadowing Kylie Jenner at the Met Gala, and he has since claimed online that it led to his firing. He took to TikTok to air his grievances the following year and said he would no longer be working at the celeb-studded affair.
“I just got fired from the Met Gala. Remember me?” he said in his video, before sharing some photos holding Kylie’s purse and other snaps of him hovering behind the celeb.
“So I’ve never talked about this because I was under an NDA. It’s funny enough, they fired me so I can say whatever I want now,” he claimed.
Here he is with Miss Kylie at the Met Gala 2023. (Image: Getty)
The model, who worked as a greeter at the Met Gala 2022 and 2023, said he was waiting to reprise his role in 2024 but was told that he had been sacked.
“They fired me because I went viral last year. So basically, they said, ‘You made it about yourself. So we can’t have you work there anymore’,” he alleged.
Tina Fey
Tina Fey‘s first and last time attending fashion’s night of nights was at the 2010 ball, and she had some pretty brutal things to say following the event.
“If you had a million arms and all the people you would punch in the whole world, they’re all there,” the comedian told David Letterman years later.
“It is so unbelievable. Clearly, I’ll never go again. But you go, and it’s this beautiful space and it’s just every jerk from every walk of life is there wearing, like, some stupid thing.”
Amy Schumer
Fellow comedian Amy Schumer had a similar review of the Met Gala. Recounting her experience to Howard Stern, Amy said: “It’s people doing an impression of having a conversation. I don’t like the farce. We’re dressed up like a bunch of fucking assholes.”
Amy added, “I have no interest in fashion. I don’t care. I left earlier than I should have been allowed. I got to meet Beyoncé and she was like, ‘Is this your first Met Gala?’ And I was like, ‘It’s my last!’”
Sounds like a bit of a trainwreck, aye?
